


Boys Are Pretty Too

by cauli



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: He Gets There, He's Struggling With Himself, Internalized Homophobia, Multi, Post Heroes of Olympus, Post-Gaea & The Second Giant War (Percy Jackson), percy is bi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23190739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cauli/pseuds/cauli
Summary: Percy Jackson is pretty sure he knows where he stands when it comes to his sexuality. He's straight. Until he finds his gaze lingering a little longer than normal on the half-naked bodies of some of Apollo's sons.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Comments: 6
Kudos: 133





	Boys Are Pretty Too

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't really anything like stuff i've written before and it's kind of out of my comfort zone. so be gentle but let me know if you like it :)

Jason’s jawline was clenched, his muscles tense as he destroyed the stuffed dummy in the training area. Percy’s inner monologue got cut off by the dummy hitting his side with its dull wooden sword. He rolled his eyes. He has got to pay more attention. Maybe he was tired, he’s got to take better care of himself. 

“Hey I’m gonna inside for the day,” Percy called out, “You know, take a shower before dinner and stuff.”

“Cool,” Jason responded, I’ll probably stay out here for another ten or something.”

“Okay, see you then man.”

“See you, bro!”

Percy put the dummy back in the storage room, closing the door behind him.

Percy dried his face off with a gym towel as left the training area and headed back towards his cabin. He waved to the younger campers as they ran across the field. They giggled before waving back at him enthusiastically. They were really young, younger than he was when he’d come to camp. It was cute. He continued his walk through the camp, waving at other campers as they walked by. The satyrs galloped across the strawberry fields, helping them grow with their wooden pipes.

“Heya, Percy, where ya going?” Piper asked as he passed the Aphrodite Cabin. She was leaning out of one of the open windows. Chatter could be heard from her siblings behind her. Since returning from the quest she’d really stepped into her role as head counsellor.

“Just back to my cabin. I just finished up training with your boyfriend, so I gotta take a shower. It gets sweaty in there.”

“And how’s he doing wit his swordsmanship?”

“Not bad, tell him he needs to work on his posture!” he joked. Piper laughed.

“Will do! Have a good shower Perce!”

“See ya, Piper!” He liked Piper, he hadn’t been able to get to know her very well during their quest together, but now that they were back at camp they could talk about things other than how they planned to save the universe. Which, was an important topic at the time, doesn’t tell you much about a person. She was pretty cool.

He stepped into his cabin and threw they dirty gym rag onto a chair in the corner of his room.

Percy lies down on this bed, eyes trained on the ceiling of Cabin 3. His mind trailed back to Jason in the training area. From the way he stood strong and the way his arms flexed as he stabbed the dummies. Percy shook his head.  _ Bad thoughts, bad thoughts,  _ that was a  _ guy _ . Why was he thinking about him like he was Zendaya or something? This was a problem that Percy had been having lately, thinking about boys the way he thinks about girls. It was a dilemma because Percy liked girls. He’d known that for a while. From their soft edges, light laughter and soft hands. Everyone knew he liked girls, he was dating Annabeth after all. Annabeth who was everything he wasn’t. And that’s what was making this so hard for him. He liked Annabeth, no, he loved her. That’s why he didn’t understand himself. He didn’t get why his gaze would sometimes linger on the shirtless Apollo boys when they played volleyball on the beach. Not because he wasn’t allowed to look, he and Annabeth talked about the other campers a lot, that was fine. Their rule was more that they just didn’t actually date anyone else, looking was fine. He didn’t own Annabeth, she was allowed to look and so was he, their relationship was chill like that. No, that’s not what he didn’t get about himself. He didn’t understand why sometimes the stubble on man’s jaw or the callouses on their fingertips would make the same butterflies in his stomach and flush in his face. That’s not how it was meant to be, not for him. 

Don’t take him the wrong way, he supported gay people, but it wasn’t supposed to be him. He liked girls. He was straight. So why did he feel like that? Why did a man’s deep chuckle make him feel the same way as a girl’s high pitched laughter? He wanted to scream, tear his hair out because this was just another thing that he didn’t understand. It felt stupid. He’d always thought that he knew what was going on with himself. That his own view of what it meant to be Percy was rooted firmly in his mind but it felt like he was questioning everything he’d ever known.

Percy’s thoughts were too much. It was time he took a shower to clear his head. 

He climbed out of his bed, stripped off his clothes and tossed them into a corner. He turned on the tap and stepped into the shower. He sighed in relief as the cool water hit his skin. His shoulders relaxed reflexively as he let the water travel his body, letting himself get wet. Water was exactly what he needed when he had to calm down. Everything had been a bit much for him lately. Ever since the Giant War had ended, it had been the most calm it had ever been at Camp since he could remember. He let himself melt into the water, closing his eyes, images of boys and girls, lying there with him, Annabeth at their centre, appearing in his mind and finally, finally, he felt totally calm. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. 

_ But that doesn’t make sense! _ His mind argued,  _ Why would boys and girls both be there? You don’t see them the same way! Right?! _

Right? 

Percy shook his head, ridding his mind of those thoughts. He could never like boys like that because he likes girls.

A tiny voice whispered to him from somewhere in the back of his mind,  _ But maybe you can like boys? Even just a little? _

_ Maybe _ , Percy replied to the voice reluctantly,  _ but _ , he reasoned,  _ girls are so pretty _ , he could never give that up.

_ You’re right _ , the voice agreed,  _ but don’t you think that boys are pretty too? _

Percy had to agree with the voice.

_ Yeah, boys are pretty too. _


End file.
